News

By Charity Parris

The Lee University Bateman Team’s countywide campaign, Five for All, recently received an honorable mention in the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Bateman Competition. Members for this year’s team include Cody Aulidge, Meagan Brazier, Emily Honeysett, Amy Marona, and Bethany Timmons.

Bateman is PRSSA’s premier national case study competition for public relations students. It gives students an opportunity to apply classroom education and internship experiences in order to create and implement a full public relations campaign.

This year, the national client was Campaign to Change Direction, which focused on mental health education. Participating teams were charged with creating a campaign that would educate their communities on the five signs of emotional distress, which include change in personality, agitation, withdrawal, poor self-care, and hopelessness.

“Our team competed against 67 other university teams across the country, most of them large public institutions,” said Dr. Patty Silverman, professor of public relations at Lee. “By receiving an honorable mention and placing in the top 27 percent, our students proved to be tough competitors. They understand public relations, and they knew how to research, plan, implement, and evaluate a campaign on an important issue like mental health and make a difference in our community.”

Lee’s campaign desired to reach college students and senior adults while showing that the “Five Signs” could apply to anyone. The campaign ran from mid-February to mid-March and welcomed both city and county mayors on Lee’s campus for the proclamation of Mental Health Awareness Week in February. Additionally, the team connected with the community on various social media platforms.

“Five for All joined pieces of our community that hadn’t been brought together before,” said Marona, a recent Lee graduate. “Stories about mental trials and triumphs from vastly different ages were able to be shared. Lee students were able to engage with senior adults in a dialogue about an issue that affects all of us, whether it is ourselves who struggle or a loved one. We hoped to facilitate a conversation that was vulnerable but empowering about a topic that is often kept silent.”

PRSSA Headquarters received 67 entries for this year’s competition. Entries were submitted by teams of four to five students who researched, planned, implemented, and evaluated a comprehensive public relations campaign. Of these submissions, 15 entries received honorable mention and three were chosen as finalists who presented their campaigns to a panel of judges in May.

For more information on Five for All, call (423) 614-8341 or email [email protected].

For more information about PRSSA, click here.